Go Aweigh2452
06-14-2005, 07:26 AM
from Sound Politics dot com...
Party Time!
Washington state governor Christine Gregoire decided her top officials were underpaid.
In many ways, Gov. Christine Gregoire's 23-member Cabinet looks a lot like her predecessor's — same number of minorities, a similar average age, even some of the same appointees.
. . .
In all, Gregoire's Cabinet will earn about $256,000 a year more than the previous Cabinet when Locke stepped down.
And that comes on top of big raises that Locke gave many Cabinet members last year as enticement to stay on through the end of his administration.
Another way of looking at it: Since 2003, the average salary for Cabinet members has soared from less than $108,000 to almost $125,000 — nearly a 16 percent increase.
Gregoire and the Democratic majorities in Washington state's House and Senate puzzle me. I expect politicians to try to win re-election. But Gregoire and the Democrats in the legislature act as if they wanted to lose. There are few things that will provoke voters more than a tax increase after a politician has promised to oppose one. But that is just what Gregoire did; she had campaigned against an increase in the gas tax and then immediately broke her promise once in office. Equally provocative are pay raises for high officials, and she has done that. Such pay raises can even provoke civil servants.
By comparison, rank-and-file state workers will see their wages grow by 4.8 percent over the next two years, their first pay raises in four years.
And I don't think I am the only one who has noticed that the money for these pay increases, and many other increases in state spending, come from a regressive tax package that hits the working poor hardest.
Party Time!
Washington state governor Christine Gregoire decided her top officials were underpaid.
In many ways, Gov. Christine Gregoire's 23-member Cabinet looks a lot like her predecessor's — same number of minorities, a similar average age, even some of the same appointees.
. . .
In all, Gregoire's Cabinet will earn about $256,000 a year more than the previous Cabinet when Locke stepped down.
And that comes on top of big raises that Locke gave many Cabinet members last year as enticement to stay on through the end of his administration.
Another way of looking at it: Since 2003, the average salary for Cabinet members has soared from less than $108,000 to almost $125,000 — nearly a 16 percent increase.
Gregoire and the Democratic majorities in Washington state's House and Senate puzzle me. I expect politicians to try to win re-election. But Gregoire and the Democrats in the legislature act as if they wanted to lose. There are few things that will provoke voters more than a tax increase after a politician has promised to oppose one. But that is just what Gregoire did; she had campaigned against an increase in the gas tax and then immediately broke her promise once in office. Equally provocative are pay raises for high officials, and she has done that. Such pay raises can even provoke civil servants.
By comparison, rank-and-file state workers will see their wages grow by 4.8 percent over the next two years, their first pay raises in four years.
And I don't think I am the only one who has noticed that the money for these pay increases, and many other increases in state spending, come from a regressive tax package that hits the working poor hardest.